‘The most varied kinds’

Surely I have had many duties, and of the most varied kinds, in my troubled life; and thus I have lived in very different relations, so that, looking at the envelopes of letters received, the various qualities in which letters were sometimes written to me, one would mistake me for twenty or more different persons; just like in Germany I was often asked whether I was Herr B. der Mahler, or Herr B. der Mathematicus, or Herr B. der Gelehrte?

Bilderdijk is primarily known as a poet, but he was also a lawyer with a doctorate, and for a time he even had a successful practice as a lawyer. He gained national fame in this position as a defender of orangists in political processes, such as that against the legendary woman Catharina Mulder ('Kaat Mossel'). After his return from exile in 1806, he was commissioned by King Louis Napoleon to provide a translation of the French penal code (the Code Pénal) in 1811. In addition to a Dutch language virtuoso, Bilderdijk had a good to excellent knowledge of Latin, Ancient Greek, French, German, English, Italian and the ‘Eastern languages’: Hebrew and Arabic. Twice – after his exile in 1795 and after his death in 1831 – an auction of his book collection was organized. A catalog was drawn up on both occasions and on both occasions it covered just about all the fields of science and the arts at the time. Linguistics, medicine, philosophy, history, theology and various other sciences – they were all studied or practiced by Bilderdijk at a reasonably high to very high level.

Bilderdijk knew, for instance, enough about medicine to be able to write prescriptions for himself, his family members and others. (However, his confidence in the beneficial effects of bloodletting had become somewhat outdated.) Of particular importance was his interest in the visual arts, not only theoretically, but also practically. Looking back on his life, he wrote a poem a few years before his death: ‘My life was, from early on, divided into silent and lonely contemplation, / and the handling of the pen and the pencil.’

Meanwhile in Bilderdijk's time, a rapid advance of specialization and professionalization in the arts and sciences began. This made a homo universalis like Bilderdijk an obsolete phenomenon, already during his own lifetime.